More than 11 million Ukrainians make purchases via the Internet, of which every fourth makes more than 20 orders a year. Due to the unprecedented popularity of online shopping, the activity of online scammers has also increased.. In 2020, cybercriminals managed to steal more than UAH 252 million, and the most popular method was to deceive sellers using fake websites..

On the Day of Safe Internet, which is celebrated on February 9, OLX told about the main methods of online fraudsters and gave recommendations on how to counteract them.

According to the latest CBR research, last year 35% of Ukrainians surveyed encountered cybercriminals while shopping on the Internet, and according to the EMA Association, online fraudsters "

The experts named the main methods of the criminals:.

posting non-existent goods on platforms and social networks (when the victim sends prepaid money), telephone fraud (when the victim transmits personal payment information to a criminal posing as a bank or police representative), phishing - fake sites (when the victim follows a link to a fraudulent.

" Of these, approximately 500 thousand face cybercriminals every day. The most popular scam scheme in 2020 is phishing - sending links to fake websites.

In almost all cases, criminals use social engineering methods: they pretend to be sellers, buyers and even bank employees, and then they use manipulations to get the victim to give their payment data "

According to OLX statistics, the share of cyber fraudsters in online shopping using fake websites is about 0.4% of all transactions.. In general, the number of people who encountered phishing when buying or selling goods in 2020, according to the platform, is approximately 20 thousand people.. Of these, 12 369 (62%) - did not lose money due to attentiveness, knowledge of the rules and timely contacting support. The number of users who gave their personal data to scammers and lost money - approximately 7,700 people. From the beginning of March until the end of the lockdown, the scammers quickly tracked trends in population demand and expanded their activities from electronics to personal care products, household goods and sports equipment.. First of all, people who bought online or used services for the first time were hit.. The largest number of such fraudulent actions was recorded in December 2020, when Ukrainians massively bought goods online on the eve of the New Year and the January lockdown..

The most popular in the last months of last year was the fraudulent scheme against sellers:.

a pseudo-buyer found a seller on an online platform;

immediately wrote to an outside messenger, tried to gain confidence;

sent third-party links and persuaded to follow them (which led to a phishing site) shared fake rules for the service, rushed and even pressed for the victim to enter their payment information on their own;

received a CVV code, balance and card expiration date from a victim-seller on a phishing website in order to withdraw stolen money to a virtual account as a result.

According to international forecasts, the share of online financial transactions will only grow. Every fourth purchase in the world will happen online. Therefore, to strengthen their own cybersecurity, users must constantly adhere to the basic rules:.

familiarize yourself with the rules of operation of the service and services where the purchase / sale of goods is planned;

be alert to ads, online strangers and extraneous links;

discuss the details of the transaction only in the official chat of the online platform;

pay attention to the site address;

do not disclose payment and personal data;

report attempted fraud to the cyber police.